Irish Sea ferry operator, Stena Line, is close to completing a £6m refit of Irish Sea North ferry fleet.

A total of seven ships have been upgraded by Stena Line over the last 5 months with the bulk of the work being carried out at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

They include the Stena Mersey and Stena Lagan which are used on the daily service between Birkenhead’s Twelve Quays ferry terminal and Belfast.

Both vessels benefited from an extensive refit programme which included an enhanced Stena Plus lounge, improved free wi-fi coverage and an extended children’s play area.

Stena Line is the leading ferry company on the Irish Sea and last year the company carried a total of 1.4m passengers, 318 000 cars and 485 000 freight units.

ECHO Business reported earlier this week the company carried a record 267,000 passengers in 2014.

Stena Line’s Irish Sea North route manager, Paul Grant, said: “Over the last five years alone Stena Line has invested more than £250m in its Irish Sea business.

“This latest investment commitment of £6m is to help keep our Belfast fleet operating at optimum performance levels and ensures that our leisure and freight customers continue to benefit from award-winning facilities and service.

“The challenging five-month work schedule has been achieved in partnership between Stena Line, sister company Northern Marine Ferries and the team at Harland & Wolff.”

Stena Line operates three routes on its Irish Sea North corridor Belfast-Liverpool (Twelve Quays) Belfast-Cairnryan, and Belfast-Heysham with seven ships providing a choice of more than 140 scheduled sailings per week.